A pair of stunning recent statements shed light on just how callous Democrats are required to be on the subject of illegal immigration and its destructive impact on American citizens if they hope to secure primary victories or just remain in the good graces of the party’s rabidly progressive base.
Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) is running for a Senate seat in blue-state Minnesota, the site of January’s anti-US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protests that left two activists dead as they tried to disrupt ICE agents performing their duties. But she has a problem. Along with 45 other House Democrats, Craig voted in favor of the Laken Riley Act in 2025. What seemed like common sense a year ago is now seen as an unforgivable sin. Craig’s strategic advisers have apparently concluded that prostrating herself before the street radicals in Minneapolis and begging for mercy is the right play if she wants the Democratic nomination.
Through My Most Grievous Fault
“I never thought the Laken Riley Act was a perfect bill, as it allowed for detention of certain violent as well as nonviolent offenses,” Craig wrote March 3 in an op-ed for The Minneapolis Star-Tribune. “The text of the bill did not include the word deportation. I made the difficult decision to vote for it ... But as I stood side by side with protesters on the streets of Minneapolis and opposite dozens of armed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at the Whipple Federal Building after Renee Good’s killing – and again after the killing of Alex Pretti – I couldn’t help but question whether I made the right call last year.”
Craig attempted to ingratiate herself with Democrats statewide by including a detailed history of her long-standing support for illegal aliens, stating that she was always uncomfortable with the notion of allowing federal detention of illegal immigrants who go on to commit other crimes against individual American citizens in the United States.
Leftist news site The Minnesota Reformer spelled out Craig’s sudden change of heart on the “punitive immigration bill.”
“Even if the Laken Riley Act wasn’t the cause of Operation Metro Surge – and the resulting wave of illegal detentions, violations of constitutional rights and the shooting of three people that came after the Trump administration sent 3,000 immigration officers here – Craig acknowledges in the piece that ‘any bill that gives ICE new authority in this administration was the wrong decision. And I regret my vote,’” The Reformer reported.
Minnesota progressives seem to demand Craig confess her transgression and perform public penance. Even the slightest support for the US federal deportation process is verboten for Democrats in this absolutist environment.
Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, Craig’s opponent in the party primary race, was quick to smell the weakness and pounce on the atonement attempt.
“Craig was the only Minnesota Democrat to vote with Donald Trump to empower ICE and stood by that vote for over a year. No amount of regret can reunite families, save children from indefinite detention, or make our communities whole again,” she proclaimed in a statement.
While Craig was brandishing her hair shirt and beating herself on the back for her grave sin, another House Democrat managed to take things to another level by dismissing the concerns of surviving family members of Americans murdered by illegal aliens.
‘It’s Terrible What Happened, But ... ’
“For the folks that are here and your families, I’m sorry. It’s terrible what happened to your children and family members, but they are more likely, American citizens are more likely to be attacked by United States citizens who are not undocumented who came here and who were born here,” Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) told Angel Families attending a House Judiciary Committee hearing on March 4. “[Americans] are more likely to commit these crimes.”
The warped logic that came with Cohen’s on-the-spot lecture is equally staggering. These families were forever altered most horribly by a criminal element that should never have been in their communities in the first place. Imagine a young worker at a warehouse being electrocuted on the job because an elementary safety protocol was flagrantly ignored, and having the owner tell grieving family members, “Well, you know, statistically, he was more likely to die by getting run over by a forklift.”
One of the most outspoken Democrats in Washington against the Trump administration’s mass deportation operation, Cohen is fulsome in his denunciations. Not coincidentally, he also happens to be facing a primary challenge worth worrying about this year.
Young Democrats Ready to Hit Eject?
Running to the left of Cohen is no easy task, but Tennessee state Rep. Justin Pearson easily clears that hurdle. He has three major cards to play. One, he is black, and Cohen represents a Memphis district that is 60% black. Two, he became a local progressive hero as one of the infamous “Tennessee Three,” a trio of black state representatives who were expelled from the legislature for their involvement in a gun control protest that degenerated into a mob riot on the state House floor in 2023.
And three, he is 31, and Cohen, who has held his seat since 2007, is 76.
“We need someone who has new ideas, new energy and a new perspective to be an advocate for our community,” Pearson said of his campaign against Cohen, NPR reported. “I’m not running against a person, I’m running against the problem, and the problem is the status quo.”
Two different Democrats in two different states, same disregard for Americans as they seek to elevate themselves or retain their place within the blue ranks. Minnesota and Memphis may not represent the United States as a whole, but one can’t help wondering what price a national party must eventually pay for not only standing by but also encouraging an agenda that leads to such public posturing by its elected officials.
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